Bowser Strategies and Discoveries Discussion
I saw someone doing this in the Luigi threads and I think this might help bowser's "metagame." He needs all the help he can get. I want this to be a discussion thread about Bowser's strategies and new discoveries. Please make your posts detailed. I will be editing the OP with things I find and contributions from other people. This is not a match up thread.
1. Infinite Jump
This is Bowser's main discovery. You can jump infinitely by doing jump side b. I do not think that this is a great strategy if abused but, if used sparingly. It can be used with DiasFlac's wave fire to surprise the opponent.
2. Firebreath
a) Normal fire- can be used to punish opponent. If you hold this too long small/light characters will DI into you and punish. It can be angled and is very useful against heavy character like DK and D3. This is one of Bowser's spacing moves. It can also be used as an edgeguard by simply standing on the ledge and breathing of the stage in a down wards direction.
b) Switch Flame- Can be used as a mind game. Start walking away from the opponent and if they take the bait, switch flame them. This is executed by press b then backwards right after it.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=a8aRy0u_xao
c) Return Fire- I have not found much use to this because it is slow to start and it has risks. If you mess up you will die. It is executed by dropping from ledge then quickly jumping and then using fire.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=a8aRy0u_xao
d) "Wave fire"- I think that this is very useful and it looks cool. This can be used well with the infinite jump. More mind games. It is also good for punish an opponent from the air. You can use aerial momentum to "bounce" you backwards or forwards as you turn around and use fire. This move can be used aggressively or defensively.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=iR8wNms537M&feature=related
3. Bowser's grab game
a) Bowser does not have very many combos out of his grabs but I have found two that work pretty well. At about 20+ percent up throw to uair is good. You can also use fair or nair. Also, forward throw to side b seems to work pretty well.
4. Fortress
a) Attacking with fortress- Fortress (Bowser's up b) is a good punish attack when done out of a shield. You can hit with all nine parts of it if you short hop fast fall it. If you miss you can DI away. You can also run at your opponent and then go into Fortress. If you do it correctly and DI away it is hard to punish and you will possibly even get in one hit.
b) Fortress Hogging- The whirling fortress can be used to edgehog, just fortress towards the edge and DI toward stage once you start falling off.
Bowser's Air Game
Bowser has very strong aerials particularly uair, it works well to bait people into an airdodge and then fast fall into uair. Also works well for edgegaurding. People will be expecting a fair so you can suprise them with this. Bowsser's dair is also a good move. Although the ending lag is terrible, it can be difficult to punish because when landing on the ground becuase it pushes enemies out on the last hit. I have also found that it is semiuseful for edgegaurding. Hop off the stage, to d dair, jump again and fortress back to the stage.